Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Senator has rightly said, this is the only element of the 2009 Act that is being kept on in the Bill. The clock will not be set back. That will not happen in any instance, be it the 30 years for the State-owned lands or the 60 years for the foreshore. The longer periods were put in place on foot of the recommendation from the Law Reform Commission. This can be looked at as part of the review I have given a commitment to undertake. We hope the review will start in the new year and be concluded next year. Everything in this legislation has been included with the support and approval of the Law Reform Commission, the Bar Council, the Law Society and all of the stakeholders. We have gone through much of this and this is the recommendation they have made.

To clarify and to reassure the Senator, this is not about public rights of way. That would be a matter for the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. This specifically focuses on prescriptive rights where one has private rights with regard to private land owned next to a foreshore where a right of way had been used to access the business or to carry it out. This will not in any way impact public rights of way. The longer periods are because of the recommendations. Time will not be reset. It will apply for the 30 and 60 years. In most instances, when we talk about State or foreshore land, that period of 60 years has already been met and it will not have any impact.